(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to fabric knitting operations and, more particularly, to an apparatus for forming an unbalanced, circular knit fabric for coating in a subsequent operation and a coated fabric including a circular knitted, single knit fabric substrate, wherein the stretch of the fabric in the wale (length) direction is greater than the stretch of the fabric in the course (width) direction.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
It is often desirable to coat circular knit fabrics with vinyl to produce a durable material that is appealing to consumers for use in various seating and other applications. Conventional circular knit fabrics, however, normally have a much higher stretch in the width or “course” direction than in the length or “wale” direction. When a vinyl coating is applied to a conventional circular knit fabric substrate, the material has reduced stretch in both directions, including a much lower stretch in the in the wale direction than in the course direction. When the vinyl coated material is cut into parts and sewn into seating, or other products, a reduced “tailorability” results. Thus, the material may “pucker” or “bunch up” when sewing around curves and corners. The resulting material has a reduced “tailorability.” The stretches are further degraded in both directions after vinyl coating. The vinyl material ends up with lower stretches, the length much lower than the width. When this material is cut into parts and sewn into seating or other products, the “tailorability” is not good. When sewing around curves or corners, the material “puckers” or bunches up. These problems result from the unbalanced nature of the circular knit substrate.
One way to resolve this low “tailorability” problem is to produce a circular knit fabric with higher stretch in the length than the width direction such that after a vinyl coating is applied, the resulting material has “balanced stretches”. A vinyl fabric having balanced stretches would be expected to have improved “tailorability” versus conventional vinyl fabrics. The fabric would also enable an improved material utilization because patterns could be drawn in any direction, since the material would react similarly from various angles during subsequent processing.
Thus, there remains a need for an apparatus for forming an unbalanced, circular knit fabric for coating in a subsequent operation, the apparatus including: a circular knitting station; and a thermal relaxation station downstream from said circular knitting station for relaxing said fabric in all directions. There is also a need for a coated fabric including a circular knitted, single knit fabric substrate, wherein the stretch of the fabric in the wale direction is greater than the stretch of said fabric in the course direction.